Random Thoughts From Josh: Josh's Favorite Albums of 2010: #2 Arcade Fire

Josh’s Top 15 Favorite Albums of 2010

#2 – Arcade Fire – The Suburbs

I mean you all knew this was going to be on the list, right? They’re one of the few fairly mainstream-y bands I listen to, and most everyone had this disc on their top lists this year so it made sense. They’re also one of those groups that I normally immediately cite when people start claiming weird things like there’s *no* bands anyone knows that I listen to. Let’s not even bring up The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, and the gang but I digress. Anyway, it had been a good three years since their previous release, the hauntingly wonderful Neon Bible, was put out and the anticipation for this album was palpable.

So with the August release of The Suburbs we got another, in a line of concept albums. Where Funeral dealt with themes surrounding loss and death among others and Neon Bible swirled with spiritual and religious backdrops, The Suburbs hits some well worn territory but they put their own unique, and powerful, spin on the topic. As you might guess it’s an album that comments on modern suburbia although more so how this landscape changes and molds its inhabitants.

After the mid-tempo title piece, “The Suburbs”, which sets the thematic stage, we blast off into single “Ready To Start” that continues the theme with the lyric, “I would rather be alone/then to pretend I feel all right.” Which, in this case, is one response to the community as is being described. In “Modern Man” we see the struggle of a man coming to the realization he may be no more than a number. He knows this isn’t right but can’t figure out how to escape the endless loop of his existence. Drawing from the Rococo movement in the song aptly titled “Rococo” is a commentary on the people of this community who pretend to be highly intellectual and artistic yet it’s nothing more than a shell devoid of originality. The topic of alienation and looking for meaning apart from the community it explored in ”Empty Room” with powerful results. The eroding of the surrounding natural life is the topic of “Half Light II (No Celebration)” in what was once the property of nature is now in the hands of bland buildings. The last proper song on the album, “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” is defiant in which, despite all the flashing lights and suburban sprawl and decay, the need to run away from the madness and just live in the darkness is considered the only escape. The protagonist is told to give up their “pretentious” aspirations and just punch the clock like everybody else but that’s the last thing they want to do, and for good reason, as people aren’t meant to be mindless machines seen as numbers living in sterile neighborhoods being infected with mass alienation and that’s point of the album.

So although not the most “up” album, it’s a very big piece of social commentary that many of us can relate to, yet done in a way only they can. Because of the way in which people can relate to the subject matter, as well as the appropriate musical backdrop created, it’s effective, memorable, and one of the more important releases we’ve seen in awhile. Here are a few videos.

Ready To Start